Implement Ambedkar’s philosophy, says Hamid Ansari

Raipur: Vice President M. Hamid Ansari on Saturday called for implementation of B.R. Ambedkar’s three-point corrective – using constitutional methods of achieving social and economic objectives, not laying our liberties at the feet of even a great man and making our political democracy a social democracy as well.

Speaking at the 3rd Convocation of Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) here, Ansari said India needed to implement these in order to address the shortfalls that are “corroding the edifice so diligently put in place by the founding fathers of the republic”.

Ansari said the Constitution of India embodies the modern concept of rule of law with the establishment of a judicial system, which should be able to work impartially and free from all influences, adding that the constitutional and juridical framework were thus impeccable.

Questioning the extent to which we as a polity are implementing the principles and procedures of rule of law in actual practice, the vice president said “both in terms of procedural technicalities, and substantive content, there a sense of unease with regard to the working of the rule of law.”

“The answer is to be sought in the functioning, or malfunctioning, of the institutions of the state… the parliament is increasingly becoming ineffective in providing surveillance of the executive branch of the government,” he added.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Friday announced that it was permanently cutting the prices of five of its handsets in India, a day after the International Data Corporation (IDC) declared that the company was the market leader in the third quarter of 2018 in the country.

“We are delighted to share that we have seen a reduction in component costs of some of our best-selling phones. We were announced as the number one smartphone vendor in India for the fifth consecutive quarter, as per IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

“As a celebration of that, Xiaomi is announcing price cut for five smartphones,” the company said in a statement.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Friday announced that it was permanently cutting the prices of five of its handsets in India.

The 4GB+64GB variants of Redmi Note 5 Pro, Mi A2 and Redmi Y2 are now available for Rs 13,999, Rs 15,999 and Rs 11, 999, respectively while the prices of 6GB+128GB variants of Redmi Note 5 Pro and Mi A2 have dropped to Rs 15,999 and Rs 18,999, respectively.

According to the IDC report, the Chinese handset maker shipped 11.7 million units and became the top brand in the Indian market with 27.3 per cent share in the third quarter this year.